Snippet: Control

For as long as we have existed, humans have attempted to control our surroundings and master our own destinies. We seek to master our future, to bend nature to our will and protect ourselves from those elements which attempt to harm us most. Over time, we have come to succeed, at least to a degree. But even as we master the nature of the land, we have come to see that some of the greatest threats come from within the nature of our own being.

The desire to maintain control extends to desiring dominion over our fellows, seeking to exercise the same power over them as we have of the land. We seek to impose an order on one another, and the natural ambition inherent in so many means that there is a thin line between imposing order and balance and imposing one's own will.

It is only if we consider that the Gods have their own struggles where we are their pawns, that we can begin to comprehend the true difficulty of our chosen task. Seeking to maintain a balance that is ever threatened by human nature as well as those of the immortal beings that govern us is a daunting task, but one that we as Harpers have vowed to achieve.

- "The Nature of Balance", by Storm Silverhand